


Landfall

by ivedonestranger



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Bad Weather, Cold Weather, F/M, Fic Exchange, Hurricanes & Typhoons, Mercenaries, Perfect Storm, Storm Chasing, Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2019-11-04 18:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17903186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivedonestranger/pseuds/ivedonestranger
Summary: Having fought villains, monsters, and demons, the Titans now must prepare Jump City for the worst challenger yet, Mother Nature.





	1. The Storm Cometh

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Heartless Demon Wolf](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Heartless+Demon+Wolf).



> So, I met a great fan-fic writer a few days ago and soon we found ourselves in a fic trade! I decided to try to do something that isn't in my list of fics, so hang in there for the Titans facing the terror herself, mother nature.

 

It was coming. The weatherman had been talking about it for weeks, and Jump City was doing everything its power to be ready. The problem was, Victor Stone did not think it was going to be enough. The wind whipped at his massive, cybernetic bulk as it crouched on the roof of the Titan's Tower. The black thunderheads ate up the sky while the bolts of lightning appeared to go from one side of the horizon to the other. Every organic part he had left told him to run and hide.

"Cyborg. This is Raven."

The built-in transmitter sent the communication directly to his ear so that it sounded as if his friend was standing beside him.

"Go ahead."

"How's it looking?"

"Just like you would expect. Got some nasty clouds coming in from the west. You?"

There was a pause, and he was not quite sure if she was contemplating something or they had lost signal.

"We're trying to get as many people evacuated as we can. The governor has some troops to make it orderly but…." Cyborg knew the end of the sentence. It was not going to be enough.

The flag on the tower snapped hard in the wind as it changed directions. One gust came hard enough to cause him to lose his footing for a minute. The swirling monstrosity was taking up all the horizon, it's black and blue bruised appearance mixed in with sickly yellow. The weather alert crossed his cybernetic eye that made it appear it was floating in the air.

"ALERT! ALERT! Japan Meteorological Agency reports Typhoon Priscilla has reached Category 3. Winds in excess of 118 miles per hour are expected. Landfall in two hours, thirty-three minutes."

' _shit.'_

Issuing a mental command, the back of his body adjusted itself so the built-in thrusters could come out and short wings to help him glide. Firing them up, the neon blue light clashed with the sickly brown that the world seemed to be doused in.

"Robin. The weather report is in. Sent to your HUD. I'm making my way towards the East. Bumblebee is down a few troops after Terra was injured."

"Roger, Cyborg," Robin's voice came back tinny and broken up. Their leader was the closest to shore, and so the electromagnetic effect of the storm was already scrambling communication.

Soaring over Jump City towards the other duplicate tower on the east side of town, Cyborg watched the scrambling below. Cars packed on the out ramps trying to flee the city while those who had chosen to stay were putting up plyboard and tarps to protect their windows. The rain had already begun to fall, but it was nowhere near as hard as it was going to be. There were even a few people on the tops of their buildings in lawn chairs and drinks. The world always had a few idiots that never understood the danger they were in.

Cyborg made a mental note to register the GPS coordinates so he could fly by again and convince them to go inside.

To his right, the cybernetic hero saw a brilliant flash of green followed by a few more. GPS coordinates told him that it was Starfire working with Beast Boy to re-enforce the downtown district. The California National Guard had brought in I-beams and supplies, and instead of waiting for the welders, the Tamaranian had volunteered to use her starbolts to fuse them in place. For such a thin, leggy woman, Starfire's strength scared Victor sometimes. Through the downpour, he saw a giant, green gorilla wave at him. Firing off an energy flare to confirm, Victor sped up towards Titans East.

The T-shaped tower was nowhere as big as his and also had a broader base that acted as a science center and education facility. Titan's west under Robin took care of the policing while Bumblebee and her people trained the up and coming metas who came to them for help with their powers. The beautiful dark-skinned woman was a legend among the Teen Titans and had even won the medal of Heroes from Justice League of America for her pioneering training regimen.

Victor had even heard rumors that the director of Super Hero High in Metropolis had tried to convince Karen Beecher to take a job but of course, had failed.

"I see you flyboy. Watch your vector. Come in at 30-degree angle."

The sultry and cocky voice burst in on his thoughts, and he grinned looking ahead to see the lithe form of his counterpart hovering near the building.

"What's with the air traffic control?" Victor asked adjusting.

"If ya want to bounce off the energy shield that Speedy's installing. Present from ARGUS to help us with the storm."

Switching his vision to a lower bandwidth, he saw the shimmering field appear and the sliver break at the conjoining rooftop where Bumblebee was waiting for him.

Tucking in his legs and killing the engines, he soared through the opening and landed on his feet superhero style.

"Show off," Bumblebee laughed punching him in the arm.

"What can I say? When you're as impressive as I am-"

"Your ego becomes unbearable."

The lilting growl caught Cyborg off guard, and he saw the blue hooded form of Raven, dripping wet but her piercing eyes watching him. Though nobody could see it, he knew she was smiling at him.

"Hey, Raven. What are you doing here?"

"Wards," she responded. "Robin's got some concerns about criminal activity, so we're setting up alert wards that can withstand the storm."

"Does that guy ever take a break?"

"No," Raven responded as she opened a portal and disappeared in it.

"Hey, Boss!"

Cyborg and Bumblebee turned to Speedy who had pulled himself through the roof's hatch. His red hood was keeping the rain off of him. His shock of red hair stuck out from under his hood, and the ever-present grin had not gone anywhere.

"What's up?"

"Police radio. There are some problems down on 22nd street. Reporting armed personnel moving through the area."

"That would be the trouble Robin was expecting," Bumblebee frowned. "I can't leave here yet. Students are all in, and we're trying to pull in some of the citizens."

"I got it. You have anyone to spare?" Cyborg asked.

"I can go," Speedy said with a shrug. "plus Aqualad's downstairs, and he loves the rain."

"Take them and be careful," Bumblebee warned. "I'm not going to be the one to explain to Robin that you got yourself killed."

"Don't sweat it," Speedy laughed. "We'll just defrag him and then reboot him."

"Shaddup, nerd," Victor answered.


	2. Chapter 2

If Cyborg thought the rain could not get harder, he was sorely mistaken. Just the time it took to get from Titans East to the area the police had reported, the wind and rain had become deafening. The abundant rain drops slammed into his metal body giving him the feeling that it was trying to run him into the asphalt below.

"You might want to consider walking," Speedy called through the comm as the athletic hero darted from rooftop to rooftop keeping up with the African American Titan. His red cloak a stark contrast to the forced gray the weather bathed the buildings in.

The sound of a gunshot peeled through the skyscrapers and immediately Cyborg's defense system tracked the acoustics and located the direction the sound had come from.

"On your right, Speedy, Gunshot came about a thousand feet down Hermitage Street." the man said landing on the rooftop of a six-story building between to larger structures.

"On it."

How Speedy moved up those buildings so well was a testament to the training he had received from Green Arrow. Focusing his attention more through his robotic eye, Cyborg zoomed in to down the street where his augmented reality locked on to multiple armed figures moving about the downtown stores.

"I got armed targets, Speedy, careful on your approach."

"Looters?"

The cybernetic man studied closely and frowned.

"Nah," Cyborg finally said. "They're movement is too professional. These aren't your average looters."

"Oh, that's great," Speedy groused in the speaker. "Let's throw professional mercenaries with the storm of the century."

"Yeah, Hang tight, buddy. Do some recon while I call for back up. We ain't ready to hit that."

With the confirmation, Cyborg mentally switched the channel but only received static in return.

_'Damn, why now?'_

A scream reached his ear, and he looked back towards the mercenaries and saw them dragging people out into the rain. Victor's gut clenched tight as he saw the scared women clutching their frightened and confused children. A man who he guessed was the husband or leader was trying to say something but received the butt of the assault rifle as the answer.

"You seeing this, Cy?" Speedy's voice came over the comm. It had taken on a steel tone.

"Yeah, and I can't raise the tower."

"We gotta do something, Cy."  
"I know."

Where was Robin when it came to times like this? He was the strategy master and could use the limited resources available to defeat demon lords and crazed cultists without breaking a sweat. All he could think was a lot of guns, a lot of civilians, and a lot of ways to get maimed or killed. Yes, his armor could take a lot of the hits, but Speedy did not wear armor. He always claimed it slowed him down.

"The priority is the civilians. Distract and separate."

"Understood."

"Remember Bumblee's story about Havana last year?"

Speedy chuckled, and Cy grinned. The young archer knew what was coming. Issuing subvocal commands harnessed with mental procession, he shifted the energy in his batteries around while putting the backup on standby. The sonic cannons hummed to life causing his arms to start glowing blue while the nano-circuits and connections shifted and changed his arm into a high powered blaster. He had to make the noise just like Bumblebee did. He had to take the attention so Speedy could sneak in.

"On three. One, two, three!"

The jet pack roared to life, and Victor shot straight up and towards the mercenaries that were herding the families into a circle. The Titan did not like the look of that. The engine was purposefully loud, and on cue, they looked up to see him coming. That was when he began to rain blasts of sonic energy down around them churning the asphalt and spraying them with dirt and chunks of the street. He roared past as the automatic fire ripped at him. He heard a few rounds glance off his armor, but the internal computer registered no apparent damage.

Arching around again, the barrel rolled in time as an RPG screamed past him. If it were not for his defense systems overriding his human nature, he would have probably taken a lot of damage at that moment. Cyborg landed hard on the ground brought his combat arm up and fired a wave that took at least four the mercenaries off their feet. Singing through the downpour, arrows clinked into the street and exploded sending large bright flashes of light with thick smoke mixing with the rain.

Cyborg's infrared switched over, and he caught Speedy darting in and applying an expert amount of Kung Fu on three of the closest soldiers who did not see him coming. The problem was that they were very professional and already had begun to regroup and respond.

"Out of time, Speedy."

"Give me some cover, Cy!"

Switching his combat arm for a widespread attack, he began to rapid fire blasts causing the forming resistance to scramble out of the way and head for the sidewalk for cover. A round glanced off the side of Cyborg's head, and it threw him off balance and to the ground. He was lucky that it had hit the metal portion.

Rolling, he saw a tall, husky man in camouflage armor and mask charged him with P90 raised and firing. Cyborg rolled trying to get out of the way but was kicked in the head again by another soldier who had flanked him. Warning bells began to sound in his helmet as he tried to pull to his feet.

"Cy!" Speedy called in a panic.

"Get the civilians out of here!" Cyborg yelled as a boot struck him in the back and on to his knees.

Before Cyborg could force himself up, he felt the cold barrel of the gun put against his human head.

"They warned us about you children," the man's thick accent came from the mask, vocalized by what appeared to be a high tech system. "I was expecting a bit more out of you."

"Yeah, well, put down the gun and let's fight."

"As amusing as that would be, I'm on a schedule, and we don't need you interfering."

Cyborg gritted his teeth as he saw the man begin to depress the trigger. What Victor did not expect was him being taken off his feet by a flash of pink followed by an eruption of asphalt and pinkish haze.

"Hey, Ass-hat," a voice called out in the rain full of snark and fury. "If anyone's gonna unplug the robot, it's gonna be me."

Another mercenary went to open fire, but his gun jammed then exploded backward striking him in the face and dropping him to the ground. The female voice laughed with glee.

"Hex witch! Scatter!" the leader of the soldiers shouted but immediately the place exploded into combat. Rockets screamed in exploding around him, and he felt soft hands grab him by his neck and shove him out of the way. The blueberry perfume finally shocked him out of his haze.

"Jinx!" he shouted in surprise.

"Duh, you moron," she responded.

Jinx, the leader of the HIVE 5, stood in front of him, wearing the mustard yellow jumpsuit with subtle honeycomb pattern instead of her usual pink and purple dress. Her pink hair was still in their horn like pigtails, but they were struggling due to the downpour of rain. She had an M-16 thrown over her shoulder and a dark utility belt around her thin and shapely waist.

"What is..."

"No time to explain," She answered as she pivoted to the side gracefully and fired off a pink hex from her hand that caught a mercenary in the face.

"But you need to get out of here while you can. You're not ready to take them on." Jinx warned. On the other side of the street Cyborg made out Gizmo and his robotic spider legs blasting away with yellow energy while mammoth was cutting through the enemy lines with his fists.

"Noah Adank and the Havarie," Jinx growled shoving him. "Go and stay out of this area of town as best as you can."

"Jinx," Cyborg said grabbing her shoulder as she tried to walk away. Her pink catlike eyes locked on his own with a mixture of fury an impatience. "I don't understand what you're doing here. You guys are...thieves. What's with the heavy weapons."

"Listen genius," Jinx said shoving his hand off. "There is more going on in the world than you think. HIVE is under attack, and I'm not going to sit by and let them take us out. It's not your fight, Google, get out of here and let me deal with this our way."

"You heard her," Speedy's voice came across the speaker. "We need to clear cause I'm seeing at least three more HIVE teams and a lot of soldiers and they are converging here."

Jinx took off running, hexes flying and her lithe body dancing out of the way of gunfire. Victor stood there, torn between helping the woman he had befriended a long time ago or clearing out as she wanted. They were enemies and if the Havarie took them out, wasn't that a plus?

Cyborg turned and ran towards Speedy's comm signal.

"Get up high. We need to contact Robin before this gets worse. I think we have a lot more to deal with than evacuations and Typhoons."


	3. Chapter 3

Even though he was shifted into the form of a giant gorilla, Garfield Logan struggled to keep on his feet. The driving rain had continued to strengthen, buffeting himself, Starfire, and the California National Guard which were trying to prepare for the storm as best as possible.

For the number of years he had lived in Jump City, Beast Boy had seen his share of storms, but this one was something completely different. The air whipped at his fur and the cold rain soaked through the layers directly to the skin. His body desperately wanted to shiver, but it took everything he had to just focus on the sandbags, the metal supports, and anything else he had to touch to keep the city from crumbling.

"Hey, big guy!" shouted a voice through the din of the torrential downpour. Beast Boy looked down from the one-story roof he was on at the soldier yelling up at him. Even with the camouflaged raincoat over his uniform, the man looked thoroughly soaked. "Some of my men need help towards the north. They're having trouble getting some of the cement barriers in place."

"Yous got it!" Beast Boy called out and quickly traversed the rooftops towards his destination. Adrenalin still flowed through his system as this was the first time that Robin had completely left him and Starfire alone to make decisions. The Titans were so spread out that each had to rely on their own experience and judgment to protect the terrified civilians that did not escape.

Garfield had heard the call over the soldier's walkie talkie that the time had passed to flee and the emergency radio broadcasts were telling those who had not yet left the city to find high ground and to hunker down. The storm was to close now to cross the bridge. From what he heard, they were blocking the bridge to protect the idiot who would try to flee in the middle of the downpour.

A blast of lightning ripped across the sky in such a brilliant flare that it momentarily disoriented the shapeshifter. Everything about this storm felt deadly. The bolt seemed to want to rend the bruised air to shreds while the thunder exploded with such ferocity, Beast Boy was forced to duck his head out of instinct.

The corner that the National Guard Sergeant told him about came up abruptly, and Beast Boy surveyed the scene. Soldiers were moving quickly trying to set up concrete barriers and sandbags along a sloping part of the road where water had already begun to form a stream. Flooding was a concern in the older portions of Jump City and creating direction away from housing and business was essential to mitigate the damage. The shapeshifter's eyes were drawn to a thin form carry a hand full of fifteen-pound sandbags with ease. It was draped in a baggy camo raincoat lent by a soldier and a soaked floppy hat to match. The matted red hair peeking out told him who it was. Leaping from his spot, he effortless shifted to a gazelle, bounded to her and then into his own form.

Koriand'r looked up at him with those dewy green eyes. They looked fatigued and vague.

"Star?"

"I...I am growing tired, Beast Boy," she whispered her voice almost lost in the wind. Grabbing one of the bags and remembering to turn into an orangutang before it drug him to the ground, he quickly put the sandbag in its spot and saw Kori place hers and stay leaning there.

"Star, are you alright?"

The Tamaranian nodded, but Garfield was not quite sure he believed her. He did not get a chance to press the point when he heard a crack. Instinct and experience made him turn to see a telephone pole in across the street snap from the wind and begin to fall towards the cluster of soldiers that was trying to get out of the way. Shifting into an elephant as he barreled down the road that had become part river, he grabbed hold of it with his trunk and steered it away, so the power cables landed harmlessly on the sidewalk. They sparked and shot white-hot electricity all around.

"Everyone okay?" Beast Boy shouted, and the positive response affirmed it. Nobody had been hurt yet.

Moving swiftly, Garfield continued to help build the wall until the driving rain finally made him thinking of finding shelter.

"That's it, Titan!" called the Sergeant as he hunkered down in Beast Boy's elephant shadow clear of the rain. "Command just recalled us. The edge of the story is fifteen minutes from landfall. It's a full-blown category 5. We need everyone in to shelter now!"

"Roger that, sir!" Beast Boy responded. "We're going to make our way back to the tower. Your men going to be okay?"

"Yeah! We're heading inland where we have a rescue base set up for when the storm ends. You sure you don't want to come with us?"

The man looked at him, but Beast Boy shook his head. "Others might need us, and we stand a better chance in this storm. I can't abandon Robin."

"Completely understand, son," he said, a smile reaching the grizzled veteran's face. "You and the lady keep yourself safe."

"Same to you, Sarge."

Heading in opposite directions, Beast Boy scanned the dispersing crowd of soldiers trying to find his friend. He saw her, standing in the middle of the road visibly shivering. Concern swept over him as her lovely orange skin was no longer it's vibrant color but had taken on an ashen hue. Her eyes seemed vacant, and she did not move out of the torrential downpour of icy water that struck them hard.

"Star! Starfire! Koriand'r!" Beast Boy yelled trudging to her against the onslaught of wind.

"Gar," her voice barely being audible. "I...I...I think I underestimated your planet's cold. Tamaran is...is...is s….s….so much warmer. Gar, I can't feel my skin."

Hypothermia. Thank goodness he had been listening to Robin's lesson on identifying and treating hypothermia. Well, he was interested when he heard that you had to undress the person suffering from it and then wondered if Raven could suffer from being that cold. Of course, she sensed his thought and "accidentally" took a misstep and poured her entire cup of tea over his head.

This was not fun. The girl in front of him had stopped shivering, and the light was going out of her eyes.

"We have to go, Kori," Beast Boy said reassuringly. He shifted back to the gorilla and scooped her up into his arms, pressing her close to his fur. He hoped that it would keep her warm enough for him to get to somewhere safe.

Her skin was ice cold against his own and fear thrilled through his heart.

"Kori!"

She had become unresponsive.

There was no time to waste, gauging the general direction of the tower, he bounded as fast as his ape body would take him. Massive leaps, quick swings and hard-charging through the downpour, Beast Boy made his way towards safety while clutching his friend close to him. He could barely feel her breathing.

He slammed through the wind and rain, the drenching torrents blinding him and no matter how much wiping of his eyes, they stung and struck him making it difficult to see. When the wind surprisingly died, he looked about and found himself in the warehouse district of Jump City.

' _Damn! I made a wrong turn.'_

There was no time now. The howl and Gar's animal senses told him that any longer outside, the storm would kill them. Spotting a broken tall window of an abandoned warehouse, He leaped through and into the damp interior. The smell of rotting wood, rusted iron, and dirt assailed his nostrils, and his ears immediately began to ring from the abrupt shift in sound.

He did not wait, Beast Boy continued to charge through looking for the safest place for his friend. The warehouse had a cluster of little buildings inside the center, probably where the foreman and machinists would work. He pulled open the door and gratefully found it unlocked. It was the storage room that had no windows, a chair and to his happiness, a pile of old survival blankets and pillows still in their plastic seal.

"Hang in there, Kori," Garfield said as he set the frail form gently on the ground. He shifted back into his standard form and began to tear through the plastic and built a little nest of blankets and pillows in the cleanest corner. Lifting her into his arms, Beast Boy took her to it and set her down in front.

The next part though, his heart thrilled with excitement and fear. Starfire's life was in danger, but he felt like he was going to violate her. She was such a beautiful, pure creature, he could never sully her reputation.

It was Robin's voice in his head, the guiding sound that helped him focus. "You have to do whatever it takes to keep your team safe. When someone is injured, they are your responsibility."

Garfield jaw was firm. He had to save his friend, this was stupid and juvenile. If he did not get the soaked clothes off of her, she was going to die. Removing the raincoat, he saw that her purple uniform top and skirt had been completely soaked through. Beast Boy took and breath and gently tugged her top off trying to keep his eyes on her navel and nowhere else. It took him a few seconds to find the zipper for her skirt, but with a little pull and a tug, he was able to peel the simple piece of fabric off. He hesitated at her simple rainbow printed panties, but he could not risk it. He tugged those off quickly and scooped her up trying not to feel every inch of her naked body against him. Beast Boy set Starfire down gently among the blankets and quickly covered her up. Her eyes were closed, but at least she was out of the rain.

Of course, no matter how much he had tried to be a gentleman, he had seen Starfire in all her naked glory, and that was not an image that was going to go away anytime soon. Garfield hoped that she could forgive him for taking such liberties that Robin would beat him senseless for.

' _I need to find some survival supplies. This place has to have something to help us survive this storm.'_

Hesitating for only a second, he saw that her breathing had become a bit more natural. Beast Boy knew he had to hurry and find some supplies to keep her alive until help could come.


	4. Chapter 4

This Noah Adank and the Havarie were efficient and lethal. Though Cyborg tried to leave as Jinx had instructed, he found that the worsening storm was confusing his sensors. The static electricity built up from the lightning forced his sensitive equipment into standby mode, leaving him only his weapons, feet boosters, and sonic cannons. Much of his suit, the man could not control as it knew better what he needed to stay alive.

Cyborg was with a mixture of awe and infatuation as Jinx, the svelte witch, moved from cover to cover expertly mixing the burst fire of her M-16 with perfect hex darts from her delicate fingers. The HIVE knew each other so well that they barely spoke but knew what the other was thinking. The Titan could not retreat, especially as civilians who had not fled the city were in the line of fire.

Two more HIVE teams had converged on Jinx's position, and the concentrated fire was forcing the Havarie back. Cyborg dropped down beside the hex witch crouching behind a parked car and took a mercenary soldier off his feet with his sonic cannon.

"I thought I told you to get out of here," Jinx demanded.

"Storm's too bad. My system is keeping me grounded," he responded. "But I think it's better that I stay. Someone's got to get the civvies out of the way while your team is clearing."

He watched her gorgeous pink eyes as they studied his face. They were a mixture of relief and suspicion, but a bullet round sinking into the car hood made up her mind.

"Set frequency 2934-5. Use this encryption key."

She pulled out her command showed him a QR code that his brain locked, scanned, and applied to the frequency.

"Team," her voice came over his internal speaker. "Google's on the line. He'll be running clean up on the civvies while we suppress."

There was no response but distinctive clicks.

"If you're in a no speak situation, one click for understood, two for repeat, and three for backup."

"Got it."

Jinx gripped her M-16 closer and closed her eyes for a moment. Before Cyborg could check on her, she opened them popped up and opened fire. Flanking left around the vehicle, he moved in tandem with her keeping his eyes peeled for anyone who needs his help.

The cloak had become heavy since it had been saturated in rain, but it was the only thing keeping the deluge out of Raven's eyes. She stood on the roof of the secondary structure of Titan's East looking towards inner Jump City unmoving. Her sensitive hearing had alerted to her what sounded like gunshots, but now the Typhoon was too loud to hear anything more.

The East Titans had built their tower in the side of a mountain that faced towards her own home. It was not quite a tower as it used the mountain face for its height. It was a more secure location and the reason Robin had decided to come here to weather out the storm.

"What's up?"

Raven turned to look at Bumblebee who had come up the rooftop access but stayed inside out of the rain.

"I don't know. I think something's wrong. Any word on Cyborg?"

"No, comms are down from the interference of the storm. We're stuck using the old radio to keep up with the news."

Raven cursed under her breath, wishing they were not so reliant on satellites. Not much use when they could not pierce the clouds.

"How's setup?"

"We got a lot of the civilians comfortable inside. Opened two of the rec rooms and converted them over for the kids. We should all be safe here."

Raven looked back out towards the inner city but then out to sea. It was so hard to see, but the twisting in her gut would not go away. Following her instinct, Raven shot into the sky to the top near the Titan's east shut down communications array. She peered hard out to sea, and it took a few more seconds before she realized why it was so hard to see it. The sea was actually much higher.

"Oh, Azar, no."

A tsunami was approaching.

"Booyah!" Cyborg laughed as he grabbed a Havarie and threw him through a window. The pulse cannons continued to fire, but his internal sensors told him the battery was beginning to run low. He only had two or three more minutes of sustained combat before his backup would kick in. That posed a problem. It was the only battery he had left.

Jinx had never left his side. The little witch had even used him as a human shield a few times when she was being shot at.

"The two other HIVE teams are down," her voice came over the comm. Jinx had a slight tremor of fear. "Havarie are still pushing for the downtown."

"I can't raise the main base," Gizmo responded with a short grunt. "We gotta give the Head Mistress an idea of what they are facing."

Cyborg turned a corner and found Jinx throwing her M-16 away and firing hexes at the soldiers who were beginning to flank her. It was the massive form of Adank that got his attention. Somehow he had moved behind her, and she was unaware of the rocket launcher being aimed for her head.

"JINX!"

Cyborg threw himself at the girl throwing power into his rocket boots. He grabbed Jinx around her waist as the rocket missed and detonated by the building. A massive sinkhole opened up, and to the Titan's horror, he was plunging towards it. The final burst of energy had gotten the battery to switch over, but it would not be online fast enough before they entered.

The gaping hole swallowed the two, and he fell until the ground met up with him knocking him unconscious.

Aqualad, Robin, Bumblee, and Raven stood on the secondary structure. The Atlantean had hopped in the ocean to speak with the animals and confirmed that a small tsunami was on its way. Small was a joke. It had enough water in it to put the coastline of the city under water except for the highest of skyscrapers.

"You can thank global warming for this," Aqualad grumbled as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Not the time or place, " Robin responded. "I know we can lock down Titan's East so nothing can get in, but we're looking at a lot of damage to the city. Anything we can do?"

"The city built up the, but nobody was ready for this," Raven responded. "This is nature, Robin. She's going to kill us if we don't get out of the way."

Robin did not answer, but that moment of silent gave them a chance to feel the rumble that came from the inner city. Everyone turned to look in that direction.

"That felt like a bomb," Robin said. Of course, he had felt enough of them to recognize the tremor.

"Cy and Speedy are out there," Raven said, concerning filling her voice. "And we can't raise them, so they don't know about the tsunami."

"Starfire and Beast Boy haven't reported in either," Bumblebee said grimly. "The drone sweeps I was running before the weather got too rough did not find anything."

Robin pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking.

"I can't risk more of us into this unknown," Robin said.

"We can't just leave them out there," Raven answered. "We have to try. I'm going to go one way or another, Robin."

"Raven, they're my friends, but if something is happening and you're injured, then that's yet another unaccounted member."

"We have an hour before the wave gets here," Aqualad helped. "if it weren't for her cunning eyes, we wouldn't have this much time. Thirty minutes to do a sweep. I'll go with her. If we're hit by the water, I can protect her. It is my environment."

Robin nodded and immediately, the two heroes took off. The twist in Robin's stomach would not go away.


	5. Chapter 5

The storm howled like a beast trying to break free, and all Garfield could do was hunker down in the little shack which was in the center of the work floor that once bustled but now had been abandoned. The warehouse stood against the test of time, but now, Beast Boy was not sure. The walls rattled and shook as the wind pounded the building relentlessly. At times, he could hear the windows shatter as objects were thrown through it.

He had never been this scared in his life. Yes, Gar had faced fear against Slade and many other villains, but mother nature was a monster who could not be defeated. All you could do was wait it out and pray it was not your time to go.

"Garfield?"

Starfire's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he turned to see the orange-skinned alien shifting in the makeshift bed that he had made. She noted quick enough that it was the only cover she had on

"Why...why am I unclothed?" she asked more confused than anything.

"Hypothermia," Beast Boy said. "You didn't react well to the cold."

"Ah," she answered, watching him as he tried not to look embarrassed. "And you are who I have to thank for preserving my life?"

"Yeah," Gar said, a bit of color coming to his red cheeks. "I tried to get us back to the tower, but I got lost and took refuge here at an old factory in the warehouse district."

She stood, and the blankets that were protecting her modesty slid away. Instinctively, Beast Boy spun around to face away, his face turning crimson. He heard her move about examining the room.

"Have we been able to communicate with the Robin?"

"No," Beast said, talking to the door and trying to look suave. He desperate to not think about the fact there was a naked woman behind him and one as gorgeous as Starfire. "I lost my communicator in the storm, and yours is waterlogged. I think most of the electronics are fried."

"Why do you face away, Garfield?"

She used his name. Starfire rarely used anyone's name unless she was speaking personally. It was something to do with Tamaranian culture and the importance of titles. She had once spent a long-winded hour telling how she saw their hero names as their titles and a sign of respect to use on duty. Starfire had called him Garfield, and it caused his heart to flutter.

"You're...you're naked, Kori," he said venturing to use her name.

"And that is an issue?" she asked puzzled. "We are alone, and no one else is around."

"Uh..."

Oh, god, he wanted to turn around so bad.

"Oh. I apologize, friend Garfield. You are human and thus under the rules of morality and modesty. Give me a moment."

She shuffled around for a moment and then spoke.

"I am covered. You may turn around."

He turned and found that she had draped an old lab coat over her and loosely tied it off at the waist with some rope. Beast Boy could make out some of the beautiful skin peeking through the closed fabric.

" _This is so much worse. Now she's tantalizing,"_  What the hell had gotten into him.

"What is the plan?"

Starfire was asking him? He cleared his throat and tried to think. What would Robin do?

"We need to somehow get a hold of the team and let them know where we are and that we're alright. They might try to scour the city looking for us, and it is too dangerous in this storm."

"Very wise. How do we perform the contact?" She asked, looking about. "Can we do the MacGyver on our communicator?"

"I actually haven't looked yet," Beast Boy said sheepishly. "Was trying to make sure we were safe."

"An important step," Starfire said with a nod as she peered out the grime-stained window. "Robin would be proud of your choices."

He blushed with pride.

* * *

Raven landed and stumbled as the wind shifted directions and tried to slam her into the building beside her. Instead, she braced herself and peered out from under her soaked cloak, trying to get a read on where she was. The rain made it hard to fly, but there was no other option if she was going to cover as much as the city she could before her thirty minutes were up. Even Aqualad looked miserable in the rain, and he was born of the ocean.

"Anything?" the dark sorceress shouted towards him, but the jet black hair shook out a no. Raven gritted her teeth and tried to force herself up in the air again. The blast of wind shoved her down and onto her knees. Aqualad was at her side in an instant.

"You okay?" he shouted near her ear so she could hear him.

"Yeah, The wind is too strong. I don't think I'm going to stay airborne long."

He nodded, looking out towards the last known reported location of Starfire and Beast Boy.

"We'll go another half mile and then turn around. We have to be in the cover before that tsunami hits."

Raven nodded. She wanted to go farther, but the sorceress knew that Robin would come looking for her, and his life would be at risk too. There came the point when they had to cut their losses, even if it was close friends.

Pushing Aqualad aside, she threw herself into the air, her magic carrying her up into the maelstrom of wind and she let it take her even though it was diagonal to the road. Raven twisted and made sure her feet landed on the buildings which she then pushed off of to change direction.

Raven tumbled down on to the roof of an eight-story building and peered into the empty warehouse district while clutching a flag pole to keep herself steady.

"Aqualad!" she shouted, and he landed close to her but also lost his footing.

"What about the warehouse district?"

Aqualad shook his head.

"There's too much wind, and it's too easy to get lost. We have to turn back, Raven. We're out of time."

Raven wanted to go forward, but the Atlantean must have sensed it. He laid a hand on her shoulder.

"If they're in there, there is cover."

"No, there isn't. The warehouse district is going to be flooded when the tsunami hits. If they're in there, they're dead."

Aqualad bit his lip wanting to console her, but he knew those dark eyes wanted none of it.

"We can't risk our lives if we can't prove they're there. We'll be killed and be no use to them."

"I know."

"Then let's get home and help, Robin. We still have others to save."

Reluctantly, Raven turned and made her way back to Titan's East.


End file.
